


Rebound

by RedTeamShark



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Background/Past Relationship: Keyleth/Vax, Crying During Sex, Cunnilingus, Drunk Sex, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Grief/Mourning, One Night Stands, Post-Canon, Rebound Sex, Search For Grog Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-04 23:50:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17908043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedTeamShark/pseuds/RedTeamShark
Summary: Keyleth finds herself back in Vasselheim sooner than expected, and a new friend offers some company at the behest of an old friend.





	Rebound

**Author's Note:**

> This entire thing is:
> 
>   * a) FULL OF SPOILERS for the end of the Vox Machina campaign and the Search For Grog one-shot,
>   * b) the entire fucking fault of the Critical #Goals discord server, and
>   * c) beta'd be the lovely Lem, who works wonders on what the fuck a comma is for.
> 


She finds herself back in Vasselheim sooner than expected.

Part of it is the rebuilding effort, extending the help of the Ashari across Tal’Dorei. Part of it is the responsibility she feels to a place she helped protect.

Too much of it is how far he feels, while still feeling so very close. The temple of the Raven Queen seems to cast its shadow long over a city in the process of coping with disaster, the maidens on every street with the rituals that follow death.

Keyleth meets Lieve’tel on one such street, her back straight, her mask in place, hands folded as she speaks to a young couple. She stands away from the sight, watches as the maiden of the Raven Queen touches the young woman’s arm, tilts her head, and leaves. She makes a beeline for the watching Voice of the Tempest, her eyes warm and familiar behind the porcelain mask.

“Keyleth. It’s good to see you again.”

“Hello, Lieve’tel.” Try as she might, there’s still ice in her voice. She clears her throat, tries to force the tension off her shoulders. “How have you been since… everything?”

“I’ve been well. And yourself?” They walk as they talk, sedate strolling along the streets of the holy city, back towards the Dusk Meadow.

She bites her lip as they cross into the shadows of the district, looks past the buildings to the temple that’s their obvious destination. “I’ve been… coping. Keeping busy.” Not thinking, not sleeping, not crying. The ache in her heart is too deep to be soothed by something as small as tears.

Lieve’tel hums softly, her feet stilling. She reaches out a hand, lays it gently upon Keyleth’s shoulder. “When we were there… That battle where I…”

“Lieve’tel, I--”

“I thought I’d see my Lady, when my time came. I thought I’d welcome it, that I’d spent so much of my life devoted to her, it would feel warm and safe and welcome to pass. And it did… but it wasn’t my Lady I saw. I don’t know what swayed her mind to do so, but the one sent to collect my soul was her Champion, your Vax’ildan. There, lifeless, waiting to be brought to my Lady’s eternal service, he spoke to me.”

Keyleth exhales, her throat tight, her eyes burning. Vax. Champion of the Raven Queen, hers forever. “What did he say to you?”

“That I should be proud, to fight alongside the bravest warriors he’s ever known. That if I crossed paths with them again, I should give myself to them in whatever capacity they required.” Her mask is blank, her eyes on Keyleth’s face. “I would like to extend that offer to you, Keyleth, and give myself in whatever capacity you require, while you are in this city.”

Wiping one hand across her eyes, sniffing in the tears that had almost fallen, Keyleth nods. “Well, then, let’s go get drunk. I know a great place in the Braving Grounds that owes me free drinks.”

* * *

Keyleth pushes her half-empty beer stein aside, mentally shushing the voice of Grog that tries to scold her for leaving good ale undrank. Four was her limit, and that was at least four drinks ago. Beside her Lieve’tel smiles gently, sipping her glass of water. The black robes still adorn her form, but the porcelain mask of the Raven Queen’s maiden has been laid aside to allow her to drink.

“It’s just… It’s not fucking fair, you know,” Keyleth slurs, drooping her head to her outstretched arms. “I have the ability to turn into _anything,_ and we were gonna have _so_ much kinky sex with that, and now he’s _gone_! Who am I supposed to have kinky sex with now?!” She slams her fist against the table in emphasis, her voice climbing.

Lieve’tel doesn’t speak to this, but her hand settles on Keyleth’s, slides up the bared skin of her arm and raises gooseflesh in its wake. She slips her fingers into the druid’s hair, stroking it back behind her ear gently.

Still hiding her face in her arm, she exhales unevenly, head unconsciously moving into the touch. “You don’t wanna hear about me having sex.”

“Keyleth, I’m three hundred and fifty years old. There’s little I haven’t heard about _anyone_ having sex in my time.” The fingers in her hair stroke down to the back of her neck, parting the fiery strands to find bare skin again.

She hiccups a laugh, tilting her head up to meet Lieve’tel’s gaze. Slowly, Keyleth moves closer, lifts her hand and touches one of the maiden’s pale cheeks. “How much sex have you had, in three hundred and fifty years?”

“Enough to know what I’m doing.”

They’re close enough to kiss before Keyleth is aware that she’s moved, her cheeks warm, her lips parting in a shaky breath. The hand on her neck cups gently, tilts her head up as lips seal over hers. When Lieve’tel pulls away, Keyleth follows the taste of her.

“We should find a room,” Lieve’tel whispers against her ear, teeth nipping gently at the soft skin. “Do you know if this place offers?”

Focusing is hard, the buzz of alcohol, the surge of desire twining together, mixing her brain into simpler thoughts. A room. A bed. Lieve’tel in that bed, long planes of muscle and so many scars to kiss--no, that’s not Lieve’tel, that’s…

She pushes the thoughts away with physical action, stands and grasps the Raven Maiden’s hand to guide her up the stairs. The man at the front desk of the inn passes her a key and tells her to settle up in the morning, his eyes hardly leaving his book as the pair of them find their room.

Lieve’tel holds her against the closed door as soon as they’re inside, kisses her breathless and forces their eyes to stay locked together. She nips Keyleth’s lower lip, reigns her focus in as much as it can be. “I’m not him, Keyleth. You have to understand that.”

“I know.” Her hands delve into that long, dark hair, stroke through it and familiarize herself with the sensation, so similar but so different. “I don’t want you to be him.”

They kiss their way to the bed, growing bolder, hands beginning to roam. Keyleth lets herself fall back, lets her armor and ornamentation be removed--all but her antler circlet. Her hands make greedy little tugs at Lieve’tel’s robes, fingers searching blindly for the method to remove them or at least reach under them. When the elven woman pulls away, she whines, holding out her arms.

“Lieve, come back, I miss you.”

“Soon, my dear. Soon.”

The form that joins her on the bed is lithe, soft pale skin almost free of scars--save one, looking like an ancient bite against her hip bone. Keyleth rolls onto her side, her fingers running along the old scar, more focused on that than the other woman’s nudity, than her own nudity on display. “What’s this?”

Lieve’tel’s hand settles over hers, guiding her fingers around the oh-so-faint indentations. “A story for another time.” Her hand guides Keyleth’s touch up, over her stomach, climbing her ribs like a ladder before placing a palm against her breast. She strokes the dusky nipple, giggle as it grows hard and learns in to press little kisses against the soft skin. Her tongue swirls around her, teeth sinking in for a moment, pulling a cry from Lieve’tel’s lips. “Oh…”

“You’re, like, Vex hot. I bet guys and girls do anything you tell them to.” Keyleth snickers, moving on top of the elven woman, their legs tangling as she presses their bodies close. “I bet you could have anyone you wanted, wrapped around your fingers.”

“Even you?” A hand slaps her ass lightly, and she giggles, kisses the maiden again. Lips swallow her moan as that hand slides down the back of her thigh and pulls her tighter, their bare skin flushed.

“Even me…”

“I think I want that.” It’s only a moment before Lieve’tel has her on her back, pinned down to the bed. Kisses pepper down Keyleth’s neck, over her chest and across her breasts. She moans wordlessly as that quick mouth crosses the trembling muscles of her stomach, lets her thighs be spread apart, her knees bent up to fully expose her to the elf’s gaze.

There’s only one person that’s seen her so naked, and never quite like this, never laid out on top of the blankets with the lanterns glowing. Her face flushes, her breathing coming shorter with worry. What if she’s not enough? What if there’s something wrong with her? What if--

“Oh, you’re _gorgeous_ , dear,” Lieve’tel whispers, kissing the inside of her thigh, slowly moving to press kisses against her pussy. “Absolutely lovely.” Hands slide up her legs, and fingers gently spread her, expose her even further, let her most sensitive areas feel the cool tickle of breath a moment before a warm tongue touches her.

Keyleth bites her lip and grasps the blankets below her. Her eyes slip closed, breathing rough as the tongue pleasures her. A finger slides into the slick heat of her, curls and rubs as the tongue circles her clit, and her body jolts. Blindly, she reaches out, tangled her fingers in smooth dark hair and pulls.

“Right there, oh, gods, just like that--oh, oh…!” Her back arches off the bed as a second finger enters her, muscles of her thighs trembling with the pleasure. The fingers penetrate her deeply and draw out slowly, counterpointed by the intense pressure of sucking on her clit.

She slumps back boneless and panting and for one miraculous moment all is well with the world. For one moment of indefinable glory, she is back in bed with the man she loves as they clumsily guide each other through the intricacies of sex.

“Keyleth.”

It shatters with that voice, the wrong word, the wrong voice. She’s not even aware of how wrong until she’s sitting up, covering herself with a pillow and staring at Lieve’tel’s naked body on the other side of the bed. Her face is wet, her eyes blurring as tears fall. “I’m sorry. I just… just give me a minute.” She scrubs a hand impatiently against her eyes, trying to breathe through the pain.

It’s not him. It will never be him again.

The arm that wraps over her shoulders is a warm comfort, like her father when she was upset as a child. Keyleth leans into it, stifling her sobs against the pillow she still has in her arms. Lieve’tel hums and strokes her hair, murmuring softly against the top of her head.

“The pain does not pass… but like an old scar, it fades. You will go days, months, decades without feeling it, and then one day… something will catch your eye just right, you’ll see the old scar, and you’ll remember…. And it will hurt again.” Her hand guides Keyleth’s, to the scar like an old bite. “I once fell in love with a man who I thought I could save. Before I came to service of my Lady. Before I understood… It does not pass, the pain of losing someone you love, but it fades… And perhaps it’s better, for the pain to stay. The love stays, too.” Her hand moves Keyleth’s up, rests it gently between her own breasts. “He is never far from you.”

It rips her open like a fresh wound and Keyleth falls into the comfort Lieve’tel offers, curls up close to her and lets the tears fall freely. By the time there are no more in her, she’s nearly asleep, still hiccuping and shaking with the occasional sob. Lieve’tel strokes her hair and hums, holds her close until sleep fully takes her.

The Raven Maiden kisses the top of her head again, her own eyes closing. To give herself in the required capacity, that was what was asked of her. She supposes she’s done exactly that.


End file.
